****1/4 out of *****
It's definitely uneven in terms of acting, with almost all the guys giving solid performances and almost every female character ranging from mediocre to cringe-worthy, with Brittney Murphy(RIP) being the slight exception.
However, unlike Eli Roth's Torture porn crap, this film turns sadism into true art.
Actually, they're among the most well-written, dynamic and memorable personalities to ever be associated with CBMs and blockbuster franchises in general.
The scene with the football stadium collapsing (Which I actually had reservations on from seeing the trailer edit) was one of the most perfectly executed scenes in the history of cinema.
Everything from the score to the editing to the audience reaction... just perfect.
Scenes like this make the pioneers efforts:
Justified!
A total flop critically and financially.
And I bet it still won't deter the ignorant from saying that other films succeeded only because of an actor's death.
Like Miyazaki, Nolan hasn't made a bad film.
Miyazaki and Paul Thomas Anderson (NOT WS!!!) should have been in the top 10, along with Nolan and Tarantino.
I'll take Talia's death over a lot of the Ewok action scenes, especially the one where they infiltrated one of the walkers. Seriously, they tap the guy on the head a couple of times and he's incapacitated?
Better developed and executed story of main and side characters, along with better development of the film's individual themes as well as much stronger connections to themes presented in the previous two installments, making it feel like a more complete trilogy.